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Resolutions  Adopted  by 


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The  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite 
of  Freemasonry 

at  Denver,  Colorado 
Monday,  May  18th,  1914 

WHEREAS:  During  the  past  several  months,  there 
has  existed  in  the  coal  mining  districts  of  our  State,  a  con- 
dition of  insurrection  against  the  lawful  authority  of  our 
State  Government,  wherein  several  thousand  misguided, 
and  largely  unnaturalized  men,  speaking  more  than  twenty 
different  languages,  unacquainted  with  the  true  principles 
of  constitutional  government,  consisting  in  part  of  vet- 
eran soldiers  of  the  recent  foreign  wars,  armed  with 
high-power  rifles;  incited,  led-on  and  financially  sustained 
by  agitators  and  professional  trouble  makers,  mostly  non- 
residents of  our  State,  possessing  no  property  or  other 
interests  in  our  Commonwealth ;  have  bid  open  defiance  to 
and  made  organized  war  against  the  lawfully  constituted 
authority  of  our  State,  murdered  many  men  and  created 
a  reign  of  terror  in  the  said  mining  districts  and  have  de- 
stroyed hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  prop- 
erty, and 

WHEREAS:  The  regularly  organized  National 
Guard  of  Colorado,  under  orders  from  our  Governor,  its 
commander-in-chief,  and  under  direct  command  of  Gen- 
eral John  Chase,  did,  without  bloodshed  by  the  said 
National  Guard  of  Colorado  (except  the  reported  cases  of 
two  men)  suppress  the  said  insurrection  and  maintain 
an  armed  peace  in  the  said  coal  mining  districts,  until  it 
was  deemed  necessary  on  account  of  lack  of  appropriated 
funds  to  pay  and  maintain  the  National  Guard  of  Colorado 
in  the  field,  and  the  oft  repeated  and  unjustifiable  refusal 
of  our  prejudiced  State  Auditor  to  audit  bills  and  issue 
warrants  for  such  payment  and  maintenance,  the  greater 
part  of  the  said  National  Guard  of  Colorado  was  with- 
drawn from  said  districts,  and 

WHEREAS:  Thereafter,  in  addition  to  other  out- 
rages and  acts  of  offensive  warfare  committed  by  the  said 
insurrectionists,  there  occurred  the  attack  by  them  on 
the  forces  of  the  National  Guard  of  Colorado  stationed  at 
Ludlow,  at  which  place  the  camp  of  the  insurrectionists 
was  situated  between  the  intrenchments  of  the  fighting 

f 


insurrectionists  and  the  position  occupied  by  the  National 
Guard  of  Colorado  remaining  in  the  district,  during  which 
attack  one  boy  was  accidentally  killed  by  a  bullet  coming 
from  the  direction  of  the  insurrectionists  and  two  women 
and  eleven  children,  who  had  crowded  together  in  a  hole 
under  a  tent  were  smothered  without  fault  of  the  said 
National  Guard  of  Colorado,  and  also  during  which  at- 
tack the  National  Guard  of  Colorado,  while  under  fire 
from  the  insurrectionists,  heroically  rescued  a  number  of 
women  and  children  from  similar  holes,  and 

WHEREAS:  There  never  was  any  such  occurrence 
as  the  so-called  "Ludlow  Massacre,"  and  the  National 
Guard  of  Colorado  never  did,  at  any  time  or  place,  kill 
any  women  or  children  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  members 
of  the  National  Guard  of  Colorado  have  heroically  and 
patriotically  attempted  to  perform  their  bounden  duties 
while  serving  without  pay  and  in  the  most  trying  cir- 
cumstances, facing  an  armed  force  of  insurrectionists  of 
many  times  their  number,  who  were  encouraged  and 
abetted  by  a  number  of  noisy,  maligning  traitors,  some  of 
whom  were  and  are  now  holding  high  official  positions, 
and 

WHEREAS:  Concerning  the  aforesaid  matters  and 
things,  many  false,  libelous  and  maliciously  misleading 
statements  and  articles  have  been  published  and  circu- 
lated throughout  the  State  and  the  country  at  large,  to 
the  great  injury  of  our  loyal  people,  and 

WHEREAS :  All  the  foregoing  is  based  upon  the  best 
obtainable  evidence,  which  evidence  we  sincerely  believe 
to  be  true; 

NOW  THEREFORE:  Be  It  Resolved  by  the  several 
Bodies  of  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite  of  Free- 
masonry, S.  M.  J.,  U.  S.  A.,  in  the  State  of  Colorado, 
that  we,  with  all  other  good  men  and  good  women,  with- 
out respect  to  political  affiliation  or  sectarian  belief,  are 
loyally  bound  by  principle  and  precept  to  support  and 
maintain  constitutional  government  and  the  just  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  by  the  duly  constituted  authorities  in 
the  State  and  Nation. 

That  while  we  welcome  to  our  State,  intelligent, 
peaceable  immigrants,  who  come  seeking  to  become  citi- 
zens and  are  willing  to  support  American  constitutional 
government;  we  denounce  and  condemn,  as  dangerous  to 
free  American  institutions,  the  importation  and  congre- 
gation in  this  country  of  large  numbers  of  unassimilable 
immigrants  of  such  characters  and  modes  of  life  as  to  be 
unfitted  to  ever  become  good  citizens. 


That  if  there  be  differences  between  employers  and 
employees  and  if  then-  bo  infractions  of  law  or  neglect  of 
compliance  with  law  by  either  employers  or  employees  in 
regard  to  matters  of  employment,  these  things  should  be 
remedied  by  mutual  contracts,  by  legislation  or  in  the 
courts;  but  armed  rebellion  against  the  constituted  author- 
ities CANNOT  be  countenanced  by  good  people  and  in 
all  cases  MUST  be  suppressed. 

That  the  forcible  taking,  carrying  away  or  burning 
of  property  of  others,  without  lawful  authority;  the  killing 
of  men  acting  in  defence  of  their  property,  and  the  killing 
of  officers  of  law,  acting  in  the  line  of  their  duty,  are  no  less 
larceny,  arson  and  murder  because  perpetrated  by  large 
bodies  of  men,  attempting  by  force  to  right  or  avenge  real 
or  fancied  wrongs,  or  to  acquire  real  or  imaginary  rights. 

That  the  only  lawful  authority  in  this  State  is  vested 
in  the  citizens  of  this  State  or,  in  proper  cases,  in  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  acting  through  and  by  their 
lawfully  chosen  representatives  and  any  and  all  com- 
binations of  people,  making  armed  insurrection  or  war 
against  such  lawful  authority,  are  guilty  of  treason,  and 
all  those  aiding  or  abetting  such  insurrection  or  war,  are 
also  guilty  of  treason  and  they  should  be  condemned  and 
punished  accordingly. 

That  as  to  combinations  of  men  in  this  State  and 
other  States  seeking  to  foment  trouble  and  insurrection 
in  this  State  and  to  dictate  to  our  people  and  to  our 
State  authorities,  we  refer  to  the  words  of  the  immortal 
Washington,  uttered  under  somewhat  similar  circum- 
stances; "Self-appointed  societies,  usurping  the  right  to 
control  the  constituted  authorities  and  to  dictate  to 
public  opinion,  *  *  *  *  are  incompatible  with  all  gov- 
ernment and  must  either  sink  into  general  disesteem  or 
finally  overturn  the  established  order  of  things,"  and  to 
prevent  the  latter,  all  good  citizens  should  pledge  their 
united  influence,  their  property  and  their  lives. 

That  we  deplore,  denounce  and  condemn  the  publi- 
cation and  circulation  throughout  the  State  and  Nation, 
to  the  great  injury  of  our  loyal  people,  of  the  many  false, 
libelous  and  maliciously  misleading  statements  and  ar- 
ticles regarding  the  said  coal  mining  insurrection  and 
regarding  the  acts  of  our  Governor  and  of  the  National 
Guard  of  Colorado  in  connection  therewith. 

That  while  we  recognize  that  in  this  insurrection,  as 
in  all  actual  warfare,  there  may  have  been  cases  of  wrong 
by  individual  members  of  the  National  Guard  of 
Colorado,  we  commend  and  express  our  grateful  apprecia- 


tion  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the  National  Guard  of 
Colorado,  who  have  valiantly  and  patriotically  sought  to 
do  their  duty  in  defence  of  constitutional  government 
and  the  enforcement  of  law  and  order  in  our  State  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances,  without  pay,  suffering 
unusual  hardships,  facing  an  armed  enemy  of  superior 
numbers,  consisting  largely  of  immigrant  veterans  of 
recent  foreign  wars  and  while  being  maligned,  slandered 
and  unjustly  condemned  by  traitors  and  sensationalists 
in  their  rear. 

That  the  people  of  Colorado  are  amply  able  to  govern 
themselves  and  to  maintain  constitutional  government 
among  the  bona-fide  residents  of  our  State,  but  when 
organized  bodies  of  men  in  other  States  send  arms,  am- 
munition, men  and  money  into  this  State,  to  create  and 
maintain  insurrection  and  make  war  against  our  State 
authority  which,  if  successful  would  overturn  the  govern- 
ment of  this  State;  it  becomes  a  serious  menace  to  the 
National  government  and  a  matter  of  national  importance. 
That  in  memory  of  those  who,  in  defense  of  their 
State  and  its  institutions,  were  killed  on  the  field  of  battle 
or  assassinated  while  pursuing  the  line  of  their  duty,  a 
grateful  people  should  erect  and  maintain  upon  the  ground 
hallowed  by  their  blood,  monuments  inscribed:  "Here 
died  a  Martyr  to  the  cause  of  Constitutional  Government 
and  the  prevention  of  the  establishment  of  Anarchy  in 
this  State." 

RALPH  E.  STEVENS, 
CHARLES  A.  STOKES, 
CLARENCE  M.  KELLOGG, 
DAVID  PLESSNER, 

Committee. 

HENRY  B.  TELLER, 
Acting  Master,  Delta  Lodge  of 

Perfection  No.  1. 
WALTER  D.  SALTER, 
Wise  Master,  Mackey  Chapter 

of  Rose  Croix  No.  1. 
RALPH  E.  STEVENS, 
Commander,  Denver  Council  of 

Kadosh  No.  1. 
GEO.  L.  HODGES, 
Master   of    Kadosh,    Colorado, 
Consistory  No.  1.  A.  A.  S.  R. 
Attest: 

CHARLES  H.  JACOBSON, 
Secretary. 


